PERSONAL DEADLINES

As writers we should all work to deadlines. If we freelance for others, we definitely have deadlines. I do a column for The Storyteller Magazine and I have deadlines for each column entry. That keeps me on course. In fact, I attempt to write several of these columns, or all four for the year, and submit them in one batch. This year, I haven’t done that. The next issue will have my first column for 2008; I have emailed the editor my topics for the other three columns and they have been approved but I haven’t written them yet.

It’s fine to have deadlines from editors or publishers but what if you aren’t selling? What if you are writing that book you always wanted to produce—you don’t have an agent or publisher so there are no deadlines. If you want to be more productive and efficient in how you work, you should also be setting some deadlines of your own.

We will take my column as an example. Let’s say that I haven’t written the next column and I need to get it into the mail by Wednesday noon. Since I’ve left it for the last minute without a deadline of my own, I am going to have to spend tomorrow writing, editing, proofreading. I have left myself no time for letting it “sit” for a week or so to go back with a fresh eye for mistakes/content. I have not set a proper deadline for my work.

Instead of waiting until the last minute, I need to be tough on myself. The next column is due in April. I have set aside time this week to write the first draft; I’ll let it sit for that week; then on March 17 I will reread, edit, change, whatever it takes to complete a finished product and it will be ready to mail out no later than March 24—with time to look over it again.

If you are writing a book, set deadlines for completing that next chapter or a certain number of pages. We have all heard of writers who say they sit in the chair until they write five pages or a thousand words; that’s a deadline they have set for themselves; that’s how they produce a book.

There are benefits to being tough with yourself. You certainly get more work done. It will probably be better work that you normally do. You will also feel better. You’ll feel better about getting more done. And you’ll feel a greater sense of accomplishment after meeting not only an editors/publishers deadlines but your own.

So I’m off to work the next column tomorrow. I just have to decided whether it will be “You’re Never Too Old,” “Forever Words (Your Journals Read by Millions?), or “A Thousand Words (Using Photographs to Enhance Your Work).”